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Hadoop for BI Gets Prettier by the Day: Platfora + HTML5

Hadoop startup Platfora just announced it closed a $20 million Series B round of funding led by Battery Ventures. Existing backers Andreessen Horowitz and Sutter Hill Venture chipped in as well.

Platfora develops software that takes raw data from Hadoop and processes it using its distributed in-memory engine, which can be deployed across hundreds of server. The company says that this approach eliminates the need for a data warehouse.

The insights that come out on the other side are presented to business users via a UI that displays information and simplifies search and analysis. This interface is implemented in HTML5, which means that the the data is accessible from any device or platform.

“We couldn’t be happier with the way the market has reacted to Platfora – we’ve seen a burning interest in letting non-technical users harness the data in Hadoop for visual insight,” said Ben Werther, CEO and founder, Platfora. “In order to address the interest in Platfora, we need to accelerate our go-to-market strategy and quickly grow our team. We’re so honored to have the investors we do and we are focused on getting Platfora to wide availability in Q1 2013.”

Here is Platfora CEO Ben Werther on SiliconANGLE TV at StrataConf Hadoop World in NYC last month.

Vendors are wrapping familiar BI interfaces around their Hadoop solution to make them more attractive for enterprise clients, and it seems to be working. A growing emphasis on mobility is also a part of this consumerization trend, underscored by Platfora’s latest funding round and the success of a few other emerging names in the industry.

About Maria Deutscher

Maria Deutscher is a staff writer for SiliconANGLE covering all things enterprise and fresh. Her work takes her from the bowels of the corporate network up to the great free ranges of the open-source ecosystem and back on a daily basis, with the occasional pit stop in the world of end-users. She is especially passionate about cloud computing and data analytics, although she also has a soft spot for stories that diverge from the beaten track to provide a more unique perspective on the complexities of the industry.